People call me an “elitist”, “idiot” or simply “someone who doesn’t know where he’s talking about“. Why are some of you calling me that?
The answer is simple. On this blog I promote the idea that you shouldn’t worry when learning Spanish, that it all has to come to YOU. Is this idea wrong? I don’t think so (otherwise I wouldn’t promoting it, would I?), but some do.
One comment I get a lot is: “But Ramses, if I just watch television, listen music and read books in Spanish without understanding much, I’ll just frustrate myself!“. Well, frustrating yourself is the #1 thing you shouldn’t do, but this is something you can change yourself.
I have a really simple technique not to worry or to frustrate myself. It’s called “Forgetting Everything Around Myself and Enjoy What I Can Enjoy” (a.k.a. FEAMAEWICE).
This means that when I started out with learning Spanish and couldn’t understand a damn thing of what they were saying on the television, I would just forget the fact I couldn’t understand most of the things I was hearing and enjoyed the things I could enjoy.
This includes the images I was seeing (action movies work really well for this), watching things I already had seen a hundred times in English (this involves watching dubbed stuff, but that shouldn’t be a problem) or trying to pick up words and phrases I already knew.
With music this is even easier. Many, MANY people listen to music with lyrics they’ll never understand, and they still enjoy it. Why would you be an exception? Music actually helped me to get my listening comprehension to a decent level in a stress-free way. If you like rock you just pick out rock groups and songs in Spanish. If you like hip-hop you’ll do the same. Same for pop, dance, trance, etc. You get the point.
But then there are books. I really like books that have a complicated story and many storylines in one, but when you don’t understand most of the language you won’t enjoy the book. That’s why I started out with simple books (your local Spanish library can help you getting these) and children’s book. Trust me; even if you’re 80 you can enjoy children’s books, and the simple books are even more brilliant because they’re stories for adults but with a limited vocabulary.
Here you go; three tips and tricks to enjoy Spanish even though you only understand like 20% of what’s being thrown at you. You can still call me an “elitist” or “idiot”, but not after you’ve read this article and tried out the tips.
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I agree, listening does work. At the beginning it is frustrating but what the heck. The benefit, that is really hard to realize, is that your ear is becoming tuned to the sound of Spanish. After some time (and it really isn’t that long of a time) you start understanding more and more. Books then start making more sense. I am sure there is some scientific explanation on how the brain works and picks all of this up, but I really don’t care. All I know is that it does work, at least for many and probably many others. Thanks, Ramses, for promoting listening to music and watching TV. It does work!
Side note: I always thought (past tense) my Spanish was “not good enough”. Last week my tutor proved me wrong. We went around town to various stores, restaurants, etc. We made an agreement beforehand that I would NOT under any circumstance use English. My tutor was there to step in if I screwed up. Well, good news -my tutor never had to step in and help. And, the really good news is not a single Spanish speaker doubted I, too, was not a native Spanish speaker and I look as gringo as they come. So, why am I sharing this? Well, first of all I am damned happy that I am at the point to be taken as a native Spanish speaker and second to emphasize that many times we are better at our second language than we think. It is our own self-doubts and frustrations that keep us from leaping to that next level.